The museum is fortunate to possess a large collection of piano music
belonging to Frances Glessner. She was
an accomplished pianist by an early age, continued to actively play throughout
her lifetime, and especially enjoyed four hand arrangements which she played
with her friends. Many of the pieces
bear the name “Frances Macbeth” on the covers, indicating that they were
acquired prior to her marriage in 1870.
This week, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the end
of the Civil War on April 9, 1865, we will look at the story behind one of
these pieces of music entitled “The Battle of Manassas,” composed by Blind Tom.

THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS

The First Battle of Bull Run, popularly known as First Manassas by the
Confederates, was fought on July 21, 1861 near Manassas, Virginia, not far from
Washington, D.C. It was the first major
battle of the Civil War, engaging approximately 18,000 troops on both the Union
and Confederate sides. As it was the
first significant battle, the troops had received little training. In the end, the Confederate forces were
victorious, and the Union troops hastily retreated toward Washington, D.C. But it was a sobering moment for both sides,
who were shocked by the large numbers of casualties and the realization that
the war would not be quickly won. An
interesting side note is that during the battle, troops serving under the Confederate
Brigadier General Thomas J. Jackson were noted for standing their ground,
earning the general the now famous nickname of “Stonewall Jackson.”

BLIND TOM

Blind Tom Wiggins was an extraordinary musician and during the mid- to
late-19th century was one of the greatest musical sensations of his
age. He was born into slavery in 1848 in
Georgia, and being blind at birth, was considered worthless by his master. Were it not for the fact that soon after, his
entire family was sold to another plantation, the story could have ended
there. After the family was purchased by
General James Bethune, Tom began to exhibit interesting behavior, mimicking the
sounds he would hear around him from a crowing rooster to the sound of rain on
the roof. By the time he was four, he
was sneaking into the music room of General Bethune’s home to play the
piano. The general realized the musical
gifts of the young boy and moved him into the main house to nurture his
talent. He began performing publicly by
the age of six.

One of his amazing abilities was to repeat compositions exactly, after
hearing them just one time. By the end
of his career, it was estimated that he could play nearly 7,000 pieces from
memory. Being a blind slave in the 1850s
South, Blind Tom was promoted in freak shows rather than great concert
halls. His promoter called him “a gorgon
with angel’s wings,” a reference to Tom’s transformation from an awkward
twitching young boy once he started to play the piano. His fame spread and he was invited to play for
President James Buchanan, becoming the first African-American musician to
officially perform in the White House.

BLIND TOM WRITES “THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS”

As the Civil War began to rage, the sounds of war fascinating Blind Tom –
from the drum and fife to the boom of the cannons. Recreating these sounds on the piano, he
wrote what would become his most famous composition, The Battle of Manassas,
published in 1862 when he was just fourteen years old. Incorporating bits and pieces of several well
known melodies used by both the Confederate and Union troops, the song, with
its ingenious improvisations, accurately depicted each part of the battle from
the approaching troops through the heat of battle and the victory and
retreat. Audiences were mesmerized by
the music, and throughout the remainder of his career, Blind Tom would play the
piece at every performance.

Final page of The Battle of Manassas

LATER YEARS

Following the Civil War, Blind Tom spent many years on the road
performing all across the United States, Canada, and Europe. One of his most amazing feats involved
playing one piece with his right hand, a second entirely different piece (in a
different key) with his left hand, while singing a third piece (in yet another
key), all of them perfectly performed.
After amazing his audiences, he would do it again, this time with his
back to the piano! Mark Twain had the opportunity
to ride a train from Galena to Chicago with Blind Tom once, later writing how
Tom accurately repeated the sounds of the train during the entire journey.

During these years, Blind Tom was exploited by his promoters and
guardians, and eventually became known as the “Last American Slave.” In his mid-twenties, he was judged to be
insane, and his earnings (estimated at several million dollars today) were
given to General Bethune to support his own lifestyle. After the General’s death in 1884, there was
a battle for control of Tom’s earnings, with his daughter-in-law ultimately
winning custody. During the 1890s he no
longer performed, many believing he had died in the Johnstown Flood of
1889. But he did make a brief
reappearance on the vaudeville stage in the early 1900s.

Blind Tom died from a stroke in 1908 and was buried in an unmarked grave
in Brooklyn’s Evergreen Cemetery. Today
a plaque marks the burial place of this extraordinary genius. In recent years, Blind Tom has been the
subject of a comprehensive biography, The
Ballad of Blind Tom, published by author Deirdre O’Connell in 2009, and a
documentary by Andre T. Regan entitled The
Last Legal Slave in America.